After giving it some thought, I would like to give you my opinion of what I call the work I do. And it is work, hard work - a professional calling.

I am a family historian; I am the chronicler of my family history, the storyteller. That designation requires genealogical research, be it done by me or someone else. As a family historian, I research and examine the concept of social history (immigration, ethnicity, social structure, demographic changes, and history of person and place) as they impact or are the family.

I use vital records, documents, oral histories, interviews, photographs and more to analyze my specific family history.

To me a genealogist is a fact finder. Whether that fact is the name of an ancestor, the land they owned at a specific time and place, or when and where they served in the military, etc. An analysis of that ancestor's place in history and the concept of social history play no part in the findings of fact.

Facts can be told without history, history can't be told without facts.

I am also the repository for family memorabilia. As the one member of the family that has a demonstrated interest in our history, my family sends me their documents, photographs, and stories to be analyzed and added to the telling of our family history.

So, I don’t divide my title by time allotted to genealogy or history. I am a family historian. Genealogy is one of my many tools as is preservation, history, research and writing.

4 Comments:

Another great post Maven. Bravo! You make a good case for the umbrella label of "family historian", and if that's the title you choose to use then that's how I'll think of you :-) I'm with you in choosing the title of family historian even if I got there through a little different line of reasoning. So nice to have one more thing in common with you!